An exclusive interview with Father William Ryan, SJ, a well-known Canadian Jesuit aired this evening on Canadian Catholic Television. Father Ryan holds a PhD in economics from Harvard University. He is the author of numerous publications, particularly on Catholic social teaching, globalization and interfaith dialogue.
Father Ryan served as director of Social Affairs for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. He was missioned by the then Father General of the Jesuits, Pedro Arrupe and the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin to establish the Centre of Concern in Washington, DC. After eight years as director of the centre, Father Ryan returned to Canada to become Provincial Superior of the Society of Jesus for English Canada and later General Secretary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. Later he acted as Special Advisor to the International Development Resource Centre's project on Culture, Spirituality and Economic Development.
Father Ryan has been with the Jesuit Forum for Social Faith and Justice since 2007.
This interview was conducted on March 16, 2017 in the studios of Salt+Light Television in Toronto. Father Ryan is now terminally ill in the Jesuit Infirmary in Pickering, Ontario.
Inspired by the experience of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, here is the reflection I shared with those who came to pray with us this weekend.
When hearts burn within us
I had an uncle who I have never met. He died in an automobile accident at the age of sixteen. His death left its mark on everyone who knew him, but I don't think anyone was as deeply affected as my grandmother. For a long time afterwards it was as though the wind had been knocked out of her sails. She would stare blankly as if looking at nothing for hours at a time until one day my mother stood in front of her and said: What about us? You have five other children and we need you.
No parent should ever have to face the death of a child. It leaves a scar that will never go away, a hole that can never be filled. Anyone who has experienced such a tragedy will never be the same again, yet it is possible to go on. This is the great hope that we see in the Gospel today.
As the two disciples walked on the road to Emmaus, they were talking with each other about all the things that had happened (Lk 24:14). I can imagine that as they spoke it was as though they were alone on the road. Jesus had been there teacher, their hero, and he had died. What were they going to do now? As they walked along and as they were speaking together a stranger appeared and walked along with them. He seemed to be unaware of the things that had happened (Lk 24:17-19), so they told him their story (Lk 24:19-24). The living proof was right before them and yet they could not see it until he woke them up.
Not all of us have known the tragedy that these disciples did but all of us from time to time become enclosed in our own preoccupations. It is at such times that we need someone to come along and to wake us up. We need someone to explain to us that Jesus suffered and died and rose again. Because of this, there is always hope and when we begin to see the power that hope brings to us - the possibility to believe that even in death there is the possibility of resurrection - our hearts burn within us (Lk 24:32) and we want to share the good news.
Peter and Paul also experienced their hearts burning within them as they told others about Jesus. We hear a part of their story in the other readings we've listen to today (Acts 2:22-28; 1 Peter 1:17-21). Jesus walks with us every day along the journey of life. Are we aware that the stranger in our midst is the one who helps us to understand? Have we ever been so excited about understanding something that it feels as though our hearts are burning within us? Let us pray for this grace this week: that our hearts might burn within us so that we can share the joy of the risen Christ with those we meet.
This morning, in Saint Peter's Square, the Holy Father received members of Catholic Action Italy who are celebrating the 150th anniversary of their foundation.
After a few moments of prayer, music and testimonials, at 10:50am, the Holy Father arrived in Saint Peter's Square and travelled through the crowd aboard the popemobile. Then, beginning with greetings offered by the President of Action Catholic Italy, Matteo Truffelli, and by the Assistant Ecclesiastical General, His Excellency, Gualtiero Sigismondi, the Pope shared his speech with those who were gathered.
Speech of His Holiness, Pope Francis
for the gathering with Action Catholic Italy
Dear friends of Catholic Action, good morning!
I am really happy to meet with you today, so many of you as you are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the establishment of your Association. I greet you with affection, beginning with your Assistant General and national President, who I thank for the words with which he introduced this gathering. The birth of Catholic Action Italy was a dream, born in the heart of two young people, Mario Fani and Giovanni Acquaderni. Over time, it has become a journey of faith for many generations, vocations to holiness for so many people: children, youth and adults who became disciples of Jesus and, because of this, they have lived as joyous witnesses of his love in the world. For me too, there is a bit of a family connection: my father and my grandmother were part of Catholic Action!
Yours is a beautiful and important history, for which there are many reasons to be grateful to the Lord and for which the Church is grateful to you. It is the history of a people formed by men and women of every age and condition, who have bet on a desire to live together and share the encounter with the Lord: small and large, lay people and pastors, together, independent of their social positions, of their cultural preparation, of the place in society. Faithful lay people who in every time have shared the search for ways to proclaim with their own lives the beauty of the love of god and to contribute, with their own commitment and their own competence, to the construction of a society that is more just, more fraternal and more supportive. It is a history of passion for people and for the Church - I remembered it when I spoke to you about a book that was written in Argentina in 1937 that said: Catholic Action is Catholic passion! - and, from within this history, luminous figures of men and women of exemplary faith have emerged, people who have served their countries with generosity and courage.
Having a beautiful history however does not mean that you should walk with your eyes turned behind you, it is useless for us to look in a mirror, or for us to get too comfortably seated in armchairs! Don't forget this: don't walk with your eyes turned backwards, you will crash into something! Don't look only in a mirror! So much of what we see in the mirror is ugly, it is better not to look! And don't be content to relax in an armchair, this will only help you to gain weight and to suffer from cholesterol! Remembering a long history of life helps to make us aware of being a people who walk through life by taking care of others, helping others to grow in humanity and in faith, sharing the mercy with which the Lord caresses us. I encourage you to continue being a people of missionary disciples who live and bear witness to the joy of knowing that the Lord loves us with infinite love, and that together with Him, we can deeply love the history that we are part of. In this way, we have been taught by great witnesses of holiness who have shared the path of your association, among whom I like to remember Giuseppe Toniolo, Armida Barelli, Piergiorgio Frassati, Antonietta Meo, Teresio Olivelli and Vittorio Bachelet. Catholic Action, live up to your history! Live up to the example of these men and women who have preceded you.
Throughout the 150 years of Catholic Action, it has always been characterized by a great love for Jesus and for the Church. Even today you are called to follow your particular vocations, placing yourselves at the service of dioceses, gathered around your Bishops - always - and in parishes - always - there, where the Church lives in the midst of people - always. All the People of God enjoy the fruit of your dedication, lived in harmony between the universal Church and particular Churches. It is in the vocation that is typical of laity, lived from day to day, that we can find the strength and the courage to live the faith by staying where you are, welcoming and entering into dialogue in such a way that you draw close to one and all, experiencing the beauty of a shared responsibility. Never grow tired of continuing the journey toward what you can enhance through a style of authentic synodality, a way of being the People of God where everyone can contribute to an attentive, meditative, prayerful reading of the signs of the times, in order to understand and to live the will of God, certain that the actions of the Holy Spirit are at work, making all things new every day.
I invite you to continue your apostolic experience rooted in parishes, which are not fallen structures - have you understood this point? The parish is not a fallen structure! - because it is the presence of the Church in a territory, a place where we can listen to the Word, a place of growth in Christian life, of dialogue, of proclamation, of generous charity, of adoration and of celebration (Evangelii gaudium, 28). The parish is the place in which people can feel welcomed as they are, and can be accompanied along the journey of human and spiritual growth, growth in faith and in love for creation and for our brothers and sisters. However, this can only be true if the parish is not closed in on itself, if even Catholic Action which lives within the parish is not closed in upon itself, but helps the parish to remain in contact with families and with the life of people and not to become a structure that is separate from the people or a group of elite who look at themselves (EG, 28). Please don't do this!
Dear members of Catholic Action, every one of the your initiatives, every proposition, every endeavour is a misisonary experience, destined toward evangelization, not self-preservation. Your belonging to a diocese and to a parish is incarnated in city streets, in neighbourhoods and in countrysides. As it has been throughout these 150 years, it is up to you to be strongly aware of the responsibility that is yours - to sow the good seed of the gospel along the paths of the world, through your service of charity, in your political commitments - place yourselves in politics, but please remain focused on the larger politics, on the politics of policy-making - even through educational passion and participation in cultural confrontations. Enlarge your hearts in order to enlarge the heart of your parishes. Be faith travelers, ready to meet everyone, to welcome everyone, to listen to everyone, to embrace everyone. Every path is a path that is loved by the Lord, every face shows the face of Christ, especially the faces of the poor, those who have been wounded by life and those who feel abandoned, those who flee from death and seek shelter in our homes, in our cities. No one can feel exempt from being preoccupied with the poor and with social justice (EG, 201).
Remain open to the reality that surrounds you. Fearlessly seek out dialogue with those who live beside you, and with those who think differently from you but who, like you, desire peace, justice and fraternity. And in your dialogue, seek to project a shared future. It is through dialogue that we build peace, by taking care of others and by speaking with everyone.
Dear children, young people and adults of Catholic Action: go, go out to meet everyone of the peripheries! Go, and there, be Church, with the strength of the Holy Spirit.
May you be supported by the maternal protection of the Immaculate Virgin; may she accompany you and may you be encouraged by the support of your Bishops; as well as by my blessing, which I willingly impart upon you and upon your entire Association. And please, don't forget to pray for me!
At the conclusion of the Audience with Catholic Action Italy, on the occasion of the celebration of 150 years of their existence, the Holy Father, Pope Francis led the recitation of the Regina Caeli with the faithful and with pilgrims who were present in Saint Peter's Square.
Greetings of His Holiness, Pope Francis
prior to the recitation of the Regina Caeli
Dear brothers and sisters,
We continue to receive dramatic news about the situation in Venezuela and the aggravation caused by clashes, including many who have died, who are wounded and who have been detained. While I am united with the suffering of the families of victims, for whom I assure my prayers, I send an urgent appeal to the government and to all the members of Venezuelan society that they may avoid any further forms of violence, respect human rights and seek to negotiate solutions to the grave humanitarian, social, political and economic crises that are challenging the people of that country. Let us rely on the Most Holy Virgin Mary to intercede for peace, reconciliation and democracy in that beloved country. And let us pray for all the countries that are experiencing grave difficulties. I think especially in these days of the Republic of Macedonia.
Yesterday, in Verona, Leopoldina Naudet, Founder of the Sisters of the Sacred Family, was Beatified. Having grown up in the court of the Habsburgs, first in Florence and then in Vienna, from the time she was a young girl, she always had a strong vocation to prayer, but also to service in the field of education. She consecrated herself to God and, through various experiences, she managed to form a new religious community in Verona, under the protection of the Holy Family, which is still alive in the Church today. Let us join in their joy and thanksgiving.
Today throughout Italy, we are celebrating the Day for the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. I encourage you to support this important institution which continues to invest in the formation of young people in order to improve the world around us.
Christian formation is based on the Word of God. For this reason, I am pleased to also remember that today in Poland, they are celebrating bible Sunday. In parish churches, in schools and in the mass media, a part of the Sacred Scripture is being read aloud. I wish every good gift for this initiative.
And you, dear friends of Catholic Action, at the conclusion of your meeting, I thank you with all my heart for your presence! And through you, I greet all of your parish groups, your families, the children, the youth, and the elderly. Continue on your way!
And I extend my greeting to the pilgrims who, at this time, are unite with us in reciting this Marian prayer, especially those who have come from Spain, Croatia, Germany and Puerto Rico. Together, we address our prayers to Mary our Mother. We thank her especially for the Apostolic Voyage to Egypt which I have only just completed. I ask the Lord to bless all the Egyptian people, who were so very welcoming, all the authorities, the Christian faithful and the Muslims, and may God grant the gift of peace to that country.
At 4:45pm this afternoon, at the Cairo international airport, there was a departure ceremony held to mark the departure of the Holy Father, Pope Francis from Egypt. Present to bid His Holiness farewell was the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Mister Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi and an honor guard.
The Pope boarded the Alitalia A321 shortly before it departed - minutes after 5:00pm local time - for the return flight to Italy - after a three-hour flight.
Telegram of His Holiness, Pope Francis
to the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Immediately after the departure of his flight from Cairo, Pope Francis sent the following message by telegram to the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Mister Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi:
His Excellency, Abdel Fattah Al Sisi
President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Cairo
As I leave Egypt, I wish to express my deep gratitude to Your Excellency and to all the beloved Egyptian people for your warm welcome and hospitality. With the assurance of my prayers, I invoke upon the nation the divine blessings of peace and joy.
Francis
During the flight from Cairo to Rome, while passing through Greek airspace on the way back to Italy, the Holy Father, Pope Francis sent the following messages: Greece
His Excellency, Prokopis Pavlopoulos
President of the Hellenic Republic
Athens
As I return from my pastoral visit to Egypt, I wish to renew to Your Excellency and your fellow citizens the assurance of my prayers and best wishes for Greece and all its people.
Francis
Italy
To His Excellency
The Honorable Sergio Mattarella
President of the Italian Republic
Palazzo del Quirinale - 00187 Rome
Upon my return from visiting in Egypt, where I met that noble people, rich in history, culture and spirituality, I express to you, Mister President, my good wishes and greetings and I assure you of a special prayer for the good of and the prosperity of the entire Italian nation upon which I invoke celestial blessings.
Francis
The aircraft carrying the Holy Father returned from Egypt and arrived at the Ciampino international airport at 8:10pm local time in Rome.
At 2:45pm this afternoon, the Holy Father, Pope Francis left the Apostolic Nunciature and traveled by car to the Coptic Catholic Patriarchal Seminary of Al-Maadi, located on the outskirts of Cairo.
Upon his arrival, the Pope was welcomed by the Patriarch, His Beatitude, Ibrahim Isaac Sedrak; and by the Rector and the Vice-Rector of the Seminary. In the entrance hall, he exchanged greetings with five Religious Sisters and with 5 Religious Superiors General. Then, after having had a photo taken with the seminarians and priests resident at the seminary, the Holy Father exchanged gifts with them.
The Pope then went in procession to the sports field, where a prayer - in the form of a Liturgy of the Word - in Arabic took place. There were approximately 1,500 priests, religious men and women and seminarians in attendance. During the prayer, a word of welcome was offered by the Rector of the Seminary, Father Toma Adly Zaky. After the readings from scripture, the Holy Father also addressed the assembly.
At the conclusion of the prayer, after the renewal of promises of Consecrated Life, the recitation of the Our Father and the final blessing, the Holy Father traveled by car to the Cairo international airport for the departure ceremonies.
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
addressed to clergy, religious and seminarians
Your Beatitudes,
Dear brothers and sisters,
As-salamu alaykum! Peace be with you!
This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice in him! Christ is forever victorious over death, let us rejoice in him!
I am happy to be with you in this house of formation for priests, which represents the heart of the Catholic Church in Egypt. I am pleased to greet you, the priests and consecrated men and women of the small Catholic flock in Egypt, as the leaven which God is preparing for this blessed land, so that, together with our Orthodox brothers and sisters, his Kingdom may increase in this place (cf Mt 13:13).
I wish first of all to thank you for your witness and for the good that you do every day amid many challenges and often few consolations. I want to encourage you! Do not be afraid of the burdens of your daily service and the difficult circumstances some of you must endure. We venerate the Holy Cross, the instrument and sign of our salvation. When we flee the Cross, we flee the resurrection!
Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Lk 12:32).
This, then, demands believing, witnessing to the truth, sowing and cultivating without waiting for the harvest. In fact, we reap the fruits of so many others, whether consecrated or not, who have generously worked in the Lord’s vineyard. Your history is filled with such people!
Although there are many reasons to be discouraged, amid many prophets of destruction and condemnation, and so many negative and despairing voices, may you be a positive force, salt and light for this society. Like the engine of a train, may you be the driving force leading all towards their destination. May you be sowers of hope, builders of bridges and agents of dialogue and harmony.
This will be possible if consecrated men and women do not give in to the temptations they daily encounter along their way. I would like to highlight some of the greatest of these temptations. You know them, because the earliest monks of Egypt described these temptations well.
1. The temptation to let ourselves be led, rather than to lead. The Good Shepherd has the responsibility of guiding the sheep (cf Jn 10:3-4), of bringing them to fresh pastures and springs of flowing water (cf Ps 23). He cannot let himself be dragged down by disappointment and pessimism: What can I do? He is always full of initiative and creativity, like a spring that flows even in the midst of drought. He always shares the caress of consolation even when he is broken-hearted. He is a father when his children show him gratitude, but especially when they prove ungrateful (cf Lk 15:11-32). Our faithfulness to the Lord must never depend on human gratitude: Your Father who sees in secret will reward you (Mt 6:4, 6, 18).
2. The temptation to complain constantly. It is easy to always complain about others, about the shortcomings of superiors, about the state of the Church and society, about the lack of possibilities… But consecrated persons, through the Holy Spirit’s anointing, are those who turn every obstacle into an opportunity, and not every difficulty into an excuse! The person who is always complaining is really someone who doesn’t want to work. It was for this reason that the Lord said to the pastors: Lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees (Heb 12:12; cf. Is 35:3).
3. The temptation to gossip and envy. And this is terrible! It is a great danger when consecrated persons, instead of helping the little ones to grow and to rejoice in the successes of their brothers and sisters, allow themselves to be dominated by envy and to hurt others through gossip. When, instead of striving to grow, they start to destroy those who are growing; instead of following their good example, they judge them and belittle their value. Envy is a cancer that destroys the body in no time: If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand (Mk 3:24-25). In fact – and do not forget this – through the devil’s envy death entered the world (Wis 2:24). Gossip is its means and its weapon.
4. The temptation to compare ourselves to others. Enrichment is found in the diversity and uniqueness of each one of us. Comparing ourselves with those better off often leads to grudges; comparing ourselves with those worse off often leads to pride and laziness. Those who are always comparing themselves with others end up paralyzed. May we learn from Saints Peter and Paul to experience the diversity of qualities, charisms and opinions through willingness to listen and docility to the Holy Spirit.
5. The temptation to become like Pharaoh – we are in Egypt! – that is, to harden our hearts and close them off to the Lord and our brothers and sisters. Here the temptation is to think that we are better than others, and to lord it over them out of pride; to presume to be served rather than to serve. It is a temptation that, from the very beginning, was present among the disciples, who – as the Gospel tells us – on the way argued with one another about which of them was the greatest (cf Mk 9:34). The antidote to this poison is: If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all (Mk 9:35).
6. - The temptation to individualism. As a well-known Egyptian saying goes: Me, and after me, the flood! This is the temptation of selfish people: along the way, they lose sight of the goal and, rather than think of others, they are unashamed to think only of themselves, or even worse, to justify themselves. The Church is the community of the faithful, the Body of Christ, where the salvation of one member is linked to the holiness of all (cf 1 Cor 12:12-27; Lumen Gentium, 7.) An individualist is a cause of scandal and of conflict.
7. - The temptation to keep walking without direction or destination. Consecrated men and women can lose their identity and begin to be neither fish nor fowl. They can live with a heart between God and worldliness. They can forget their first love (cf Rev 2:4). Indeed, when they lose clear and solid identity, consecrated men and women end up walking aimlessly; instead of leading others, they scatter them. Your identity as sons and daughters of the Church is to be Copts – rooted in your noble and ancient origins – and to be Catholics – part of the one and universal Church: like a tree that, the more deeply rooted it is in the earth, the higher it reaches to the heavens!
Dear consecrated friends, resisting these temptations is not easy, but it is possible if we are grafted on to Jesus: Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me (Jn 15:4). The more we are rooted in Christ, the more we are alive and fruitful! Only in this way can we preserve the wonder and the passion of our first encounter with God, and experience renewed excitement and gratitude in our life with God and in our mission. The quality of our consecration depends on the quality of our spiritual life.
Egypt has enriched the Church through the inestimable value of monastic life. I urge you, therefore, to draw upon the example of Saint Paul the Hermit, Saint Anthony, the holy Desert Fathers, and the countless monks and nuns who by their lives and example opened the gates of heaven to so many of our brothers and sisters. You too can be salt and light, and thus an occasion of salvation for yourselves and for all others, believers and non-believers alike, and especially for those who are poor, those in need, the abandoned and the discarded.
May the Holy Family protect and bless all of you, your country and its entire people. With all my heart, I invoke God’s blessings on you, and through you I greet the faithful whom the Lord has entrusted to your care. May he grant you the fruits of his Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22).
You are always in my heart and in my prayers. Take heart and keep moving forward with the help of the Holy Spirit! This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice in him! And please, don’t forget to pray for me!
This morning, outside the Apostolic Nunciature in Cairo, the Holy Father was greeted by a group of children from the Comboni School in that city and then travelled by car to the Air Defence Stadium.
Upon his arrival, he circulated among the crowds that were gathered there aboard the popemobile and then at 10:00am local time, he presided over the Eucharistic celebration.
At the conclusion of the Mass, the Patriarch of Alexandria for Copts, His Beatitude, Ibrahim Isaac Sedrak, greeted the Holy Father in the name of all the Catholic denominations present in Egypt. After the final blessing, the Pope returned by car to the Apostolic Nunciature where he had lunch with the Egyptian bishops and with members of the Papal party.
Homily of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the Mass celebrated in Cairo
As-salamu alaykum! Peace be with you!
Today’s Gospel of the third Sunday of Easter speaks to us of the journey to Emmaus of the two disciples who set out from Jerusalem. It can be summed up in three words: death, resurrection and life.
Death. The two disciples are returning, full of despair and disappointment, to life as usual. The Master is dead and thus it is pointless to hope. They feel disappointment and despair. Theirs is a journey of return, as they leave behind the painful experience of Jesus’ crucifixion. The crisis of the cross, indeed the scandal and foolishness of the cross (cf 1 Cor 1:18, 2:2), seems to have buried any hope they had. The one on whom they had built their lives is dead; in his defeat, he brought all their aspirations with him to the tomb.
They could not believe that their Master and Saviour, who had raised others from the dead and healed the sick, would end up hanging on the cross of shame. They could not understand why Almighty God had not saved him from such a disgraceful death. The cross of Christ was the cross of their own ideas about God; the death of Christ was the death of what they thought God to be. But in fact, it was they who were dead, buried in the tomb of their limited understanding.
How often do we paralyze ourselves by refusing to transcend our own ideas of God, a god created in the image and likeness of man! How often do we despair by refusing to believe that God’s omnipotence is not one of power and authority, but rather of love, forgiveness and life!
The disciples recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread, in the Eucharist. Unless we tear apart the veil clouding our vision and shatter the hardness of our hearts and our prejudices, we will never be able to recognize the face of God.
Resurrection. In the gloom of their darkest night, at the moment of their greatest despair, Jesus approaches the two disciples and walks at their side, to make them see that he is the Way, and the Truth and the Life (Jn 14:6). Jesus turns their despair into life, for when human hope vanishes, divine hope begins to shine in its place. What is impossible with men is possible with God (Lk 18:27; cf Lk 1:37). When we reach the depths of failure and helplessness, when we rid ourselves of the illusion that we are the best, sufficient unto ourselves and the centre of our world, then God reaches out to us to turn our night into dawn, our affliction into joy, our death into resurrection. He turns our steps back to Jerusalem, back to life and to the victory of the Cross (cf Heb 11:34).
After meeting the Risen Lord, the two disciples returned filled with joy, confidence and enthusiasm, ready to bear witness. The Risen One made them rise from the tomb of their unbelief and their sorrow. Encountering the Lord, crucified and risen, they discovered the meaning and fulfillment of the whole of Scripture, the Law and the Prophets. They discovered the meaning of the apparent defeat of the cross.
Those who do not pass from the experience of the cross to the truth of the resurrection condemn themselves to despair! For we cannot encounter God without first crucifying our narrow notions of a god who reflects only our own understanding of omnipotence and power.
Life. The encounter with the Risen Jesus transformed the lives of those two disciples because meeting the Risen One transforms every life, and makes fruitful what is barren (cf Benedict XVI, General Audience, 11 April 2007). Faith in the resurrection is not a product of the Church, but the Church herself is born of faith in the resurrection. As Saint Paul says: If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain (1 Cor 15:14).
The Risen Lord vanished from the sight of the disciples in order to teach us that we cannot hold on to Jesus as he appeared in history: Blessed are those who believe and yet have not seen (Jn 21:29; cf Jn 20:17). The Church needs to know and believe that Jesus lives within her and gives her life in the Eucharist, the scriptures and the sacraments. The disciples on the way to Emmaus realized this, and returned to Jerusalem in order to share their experience with the others: We have seen the Risen One… Yes, he is truly risen! (cf Lk 24:32).
The experience of the disciples on the way to Emmaus teaches us that it is of no use to fill our places of worship if our hearts are empty of the fear of God and of his presence. It is of no use to pray if our prayer to God does not turn into love for our brothers and sisters. All our religiosity means nothing unless it is inspired by deep faith and charity. It is of no use to be concerned about our image, since God looks at the soul and the heart (cf. 1 Sam 16:7) and he detests hypocrisy (cf Lk 11:37-54; Acts 5:3, 4) (Saint Ephraim exclaims: Just tear off the mask that covers the hypocrite and you will see only corruption (Sermon). Woe to them that are of a double heart, says Ecclesiasticus (2:14, Vulg). For God, it is better not to believe than to be a false believer, a hypocrite!
True faith is one that makes us more charitable, more merciful, more honest and more humane. It moves our hearts to love everyone without counting the cost, without distinction and without preference. It makes us see the other not as an enemy to be overcome, but a brother or sister to be loved, served and helped. It spurs us on to spread, defend and live out the culture of encounter, dialogue, respect and fraternity. It gives us the courage to forgive those who have wronged us, to extend a hand to the fallen, to clothe the naked, to feed the hungry, to visit the imprisoned, to help orphans, to give drink to those who thirst, and to come to the aid of the elderly and those in need (cf Mt 25). True faith leads us to protect the rights of others with the same zeal and enthusiasm with which we defend our own. Indeed, the more we grow in faith and knowledge, the more we grow in humility and in the awareness of our littleness.
Dear brothers and sisters,
God is pleased only by a faith that is proclaimed by our lives, for the only fanaticism believers can have is that of charity! Any other fanaticism does not come from God and is not pleasing to him!
So now, like the disciples of Emmaus, filled with joy, courage and faith, return to your own Jerusalem, that is, to your daily lives, your families, your work and your beloved country. Do not be afraid to open your hearts to the light of the Risen Lord, and let him transform your uncertainty into a positive force for yourselves and for others. Do not be afraid to love everyone, friends and enemies alike, because the strength and treasure of the believer lies in a life of love!
May Our Lady and the Holy Family, who dwelt in this venerable land of yours, enlighten our hearts and bless you and this beloved country of Egypt, which at the dawn of Christianity welcomed the preaching of Saint Mark, and throughout its history has brought forth so many martyrs and a great multitude of holy men and women.
Al Masih qam! Bi-l-haqiqa qam!
Christ is risen! He is truly risen!
At 6:20pm this afternoon, the Holy Father, Pope Francis paid a courtesy visit to His Holiness, Pope Tawadros II.
Upon his arrival at the Coptic-Orthodox Patriarcate of Cairo, the Pope was welcomed by His Holiness, Pope Tawadros II. After the introduction of the members of the respective delegations, the Holy Father was accompanied by Pope Tawadros II to his office where they held a private meeting.
When their meeting was concluded, they transferred to the adjacent hall where the members of their delegations were awaiting their arrival. Then, after a speech which was presented by His Holiness, Pope Tawadros II, the Holy Father, Pope Francis shared his remarks.
Immediately afterwards, Pope Francis and His Holiness, Pope Tawadros II signed a common Declaration. There followed an exchange of gifts and a gift was also given to the respective Delegations. The Holy Father and His Holiness, Pope Tawadros II then travelled on foot, in a procession, to the nearby Church of Saint Peter Al-Boutrosiyya where they spent a moment in ecumenical prayer in the presence of Leaders of other Christian confessions.
In that Church, following the readings and prayers offered by Pope Francis and by Pope Tawadros II, there was an exchange of the sign of peace and the recitation of the Our Father. Their Holinesses then laid a wreath of flowers and lit a candle.
Leaving the Church, in the atrium of the building, Pope Francis paid homage to the place which recalls the victims of the attack that took place on 11 December 2016, the result of which was many deaths and many more wounded among the faithful who had been gathered in that place.
The Holy Father then travelled by car to the Apostolic Nunciature. Upon his arrival, he was welcomed by a group of children from the Comboni School of Cairo. After a private dinner, he blessed a group of approximately 300 young people who are on a pilgrimage from the north to the south of the country. They were gathered in the square at the entrance to the Apostolic Nunciature.
Speech of His Holiness, Pope Francis
addressed to His Holiness, Pope Tawadros II
The Lord is risen, he is truly risen! Al Massih kam, bilhakika kam!
Your Holiness,
Dear Brother,
Only a short time has passed since the great Solemnity of Easter, the heart of the Christian life, which we were blessed this year to celebrate on the same day. We thus joined in proclaiming the Easter message and, in a sense, relived the experience of the first disciples who together rejoiced when they saw the Lord that day (Jn 20:20). This paschal joy is today made all the more precious by the gift of our joining to worship the Risen One in prayer and by our renewed exchange, in his name, of the holy kiss and embrace of peace. For this, I am deeply grateful: in coming here as a pilgrim, I was sure of receiving the blessing of a brother who awaited me. I have eagerly looked forward to this new meeting, for I vividly recall the visit Your Holiness made to Rome shortly after my election, on 10 May 2013. That date has happily become the occasion for celebrating an annual Day of Friendship between Copts and Catholics.
As we joyfully progress on our ecumenical journey, I wish particularly to recall that milestone in relations between the Sees of Peter and Mark which is the Common Declaration signed by our predecessors more than forty years ago, on 10 May 1973. After centuries of difficult history marked by increasing theological differences, nourished and widened by non-theological factors, and growing mistrust, we were able that day, with God’s help, to acknowledge together that Christ is perfect God with respect to his divinity and perfect man with respect to his humanity (Common Declaration of Pope Paul VI and Pope Shenouda III, 10 May 1973). Yet equally important and timely are the words that immediately precede this statement, in which we acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Lord and God and Saviour and King. With these words, the See of Mark and the See of Peter proclaimed the lordship of Jesus: together we confessed that we belong to Jesus and that he is our all.
What is more, we realized that, because we belong to him, we can no longer think that each can go his own way, for that would betray his will that his disciples all be one ... so that the world may believe (Jn 17:21). In the sight of God, who wishes us to be perfectly one (Jn 17:23), it is no longer possible to take refuge behind the pretext of differing interpretations, much less of those centuries of history and traditions that estranged us one from the other. In the words of His Holiness John Paul II, there is no time to lose in this regard! Our communion in the one Lord Jesus Christ, in the one Holy Spirit and in one baptism already represents a deep and fundamental reality (Address at the Ecumenical Meeting, 25 February 2000). Consequently, not only is there an ecumenism of gestures, words and commitment, but an already effective communion that grows daily in living relation with the Lord Jesus, is rooted in the faith we profess and is truly grounded on our baptism and our being made a new creation (cf 2 Cor 5:17) in him. In a word, there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism (Eph 4:5). Hence, we constantly set out anew, in order to hasten that eagerly awaited day when we will be in full and visible communion around the altar of the Lord.
In this exciting journey, which – like life itself – is not always easy and straightforward, but on which the Lord exhorts us to persevere, we are not alone. We are accompanied by a great host of saints and martyrs who, already fully one, impel us here below to be a living image of the Jerusalem above (Gal 4:26). Among them, surely Peter and Mark in particular rejoice in our encounter today. Great is the bond uniting them. We need only think of the fact that Saint Mark put at the heart of his Gospel Peter’s profession of faith: You are the Christ. It was the answer to Jesus ever urgent question: But who do you say that I am? (Mk 8:29). Today too, many people cannot answer this question; there are even few people who can raise it, and above all few who can answer it with the joy of knowing Jesus, that same joy with which we have the grace of confessing him together.
Together, then, we are called to bear witness to him, to carry our faith to the world, especially in the way it is meant to be brought: by living it, so that Jesus’ presence can be communicated with life and speak the language of gratuitous and concrete love. As Coptic Orthodox and Catholics, we can always join in speaking this common language of charity: before undertaking a charitable work, we would do well to ask if we can do it together with our brothers and sisters who share our faith in Jesus. Thus, by building communion in the concreteness of a daily lived witness, the Spirit will surely open providential and unexpected paths to unity.
It is with this constructive apostolic spirit that Your Holiness continues to show a genuine and fraternal attention for the Coptic Catholic Church. I am most grateful for this closeness, which has found praiseworthy expression in the National Council of Christian Churches, which you have established so that believers in Jesus can work together more closely for the benefit of Egyptian society as a whole. I also greatly appreciated the generous hospitality offered to the thirteenth Meeting of the International Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, which took place here last year at your invitation. It is a promising sign that the following meeting took place this year in Rome, as if to bespeak a particular continuity between the Sees of Mark and Peter.
In the sacred Scriptures, Peter seems in some way to reciprocate the affection of Mark by calling him my son (1 Pet 5:13). But the Evangelist and his apostolic activity are also fraternally associated with Saint Paul, who, before dying a martyr in Rome, mentions Mark’s great usefulness in his ministry (cf 2 Tim 4:11) and speaks of him frequently (cf Philem 24; Col 4:10). Fraternal charity and communion in mission: these are the messages that the word of God and our own origins have bequeathed to us. They are the evangelical seeds that we rejoice to water together and, with God’s help, to make grow (cf 1 Cor 3:6-7).
The deepening progress of our ecumenical journey is also sustained, in mysterious and a quite relevant way, by a genuine ecumenism of blood. Saint John tells us that Jesus came with water and blood (1 Jn 5:6); whoever believes in him thus overcomes the world (1 Jn 5:5). With water and blood: by living a new life in our common baptism, a life of love always and for all, even at the cost of the sacrifice of one’s life. How many martyrs in this land, from the first centuries of Christianity, have lived their faith heroically to the end, shedding their blood rather than denying the Lord and yielding to the enticements of evil, or merely to the temptation of repaying evil with evil! The venerable Martyrology of the Coptic Church bears eloquent witness to this. Even in recent days, tragically, the innocent blood of defenceless Christians was cruelly shed: their innocent blood unites us. Most dear brother, just as the heavenly Jerusalem is one, so too is our martyrology; your sufferings are also our sufferings. Strengthened by this witness, let us strive to oppose violence by preaching and sowing goodness, fostering concord and preserving unity, praying that all these sacrifices may open the way to a future of full communion between us and of peace for all.
The impressive history of holiness of this land is distinguished not only by the sacrifice of the martyrs. No sooner had the ancient persecutions ended, than a new and selfless form of life arose as a gift of the Lord: monasticism originated in the desert. Thus, the great signs that God had once worked in Egypt and at the Red Sea (cf Ps 106:21-22) were followed by the miracle of a new life that made the desert blossom with sanctity. With veneration for this shared patrimony, I have come as a pilgrim to this land that the Lord himself loves to visit. For here, in his glory he came down upon Mount Sinai (cf Ex 24:16), and here, in his humility, he found refuge as a child (cf Mt 2:14). Your Holiness, dearest brother, may the same Lord today grant us to set out together as pilgrims of communion and messengers of peace. On this journey, may the Virgin Mary take us by the hand, she who brought Jesus here, and whom the great Egyptian theological tradition has from of old acclaimed as Theotokos, the Mother of God. In this title, humanity and divinity are joined, for in his Mother, God became forever man. May the Blessed Virgin, who constantly leads us to Jesus, the perfect symphony of the divine and the human, bring yet once more a bit of heaven to our earth.
Prayer of the Holy Father
Lord Jesus, I ask you to bless us. Bless my brother, Pope Tawadros II, and bless all the brother Bishops who are here. Bless all the brother Christians. Guide them on the path of charity, that we may work together toward a common table of the Eucharist. Amen.
The gift which Pope Francis offered to His Holiness, Pope Tawadros II was an icon of the Mother of God of Tenderness: a copy of the Icon of the Mother of God of Tenderness of Tolga, also known as the Manifested (in Russian, Yavlennaya), in memory of its miraculous discovery on the banks of the River Volga, at the confluence with the small tributary Tolga in 1314, where a monastery was erected in which the original of the work is still conserved.
A characteristic element of the representation of tenderness, and one of the principal subjects of Russian iconography, is the Child Jesus Who embraces the Virgin, pressing His cheek against that of the mother. In the icon, Jesus, resting His left foot on the knee of the mother and His hand on her chest, seems to reach upwards, as if He were climbing a step: it is a clear allusion to the ancient Marian hymn Akathistos, in which the Virgin is compared to a staircase joining Heaven and Earth. The Icon expresses with rare efficacy the intensity of the affectionate relationship, full of tenderness, between Mother and Son. The Virgin also symbolizes the Church of Christ, as a place where the relationship of love between God and man is lived fully. In the depiction, love unites heaven to earth, divine to human; unity is transmitted through the contact between the faces and the conjunction of their haloes. The decoration of the Virgin’s halo is formed of rays, engraved following a motif typical of Russian sacred art of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The Mother of God is wearing a blue tunic and wears on her head a mitella (cap) of the same colour, and over this a dark red maphorion (cloak) with a gold border (few traces remain of the original gold leaf), enriched with gems and pearls. Mary’s cloak is decorated with stars in the forms of rhombuses and four-leafed clover: ancient symbols of her perpetual virginity. Jesus is depicted barefoot, wearing a blue chiton and a dark blue himation (cape). The mother of God is thoughtful, prefiguring the way of the cross. The icon has been studied and restored in the laboratories of the Vatican Museums. The inscription below, in Cyrillic characters, is incomplete.
At the end of the courtesy Visit to His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, in the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Cairo, Pope Francis Francesco and Pope Tawadros II signed the following Joint Declaration:
Common Declaration
of His Holiness, Pope Francis
and His Holiness, Tawadros II
1. We, Francis, Bishop of Rome and Pope of the Catholic Church, and Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of Saint Mark, give thanks to God in the Holy Spirit for granting us the joyful opportunity to meet once more, to exchange a fraternal embrace and to join again in common prayer. We glorify the Almighty for the bonds of fraternity and friendship existing between the See of Saint Peter and the See of Saint Mark. The privilege of being together here in Egypt is a sign that the solidity of our relationship is increasing year by year, and that we are growing in closeness, faith and love of Christ our Lord. We give thanks to God for this beloved Egypt, the homeland that lives inside us, as His Holiness Pope Shenouda III used to say, the people blessed by God (cf Is 19:25) with its ancient Pharaonic civilization, the Greek and Roman heritage, the Coptic tradition and the Islamic presence. Egypt is the place where the Holy Family found refuge, a land of martyrs and saints.
2. Our deep bond of friendship and fraternity has its origin in the full communion that existed between our Churches in the first centuries and was expressed in many different ways through the early Ecumenical Councils, dating back to the Council of Nicaea in 325 and the contribution of the courageous Church Father Saint Athanasius, who earned the title Protector of the Faith. Our communion was expressed through prayer and similar liturgical practices, the veneration of the same martyrs and saints, and in the development and spread of monasticism, following the example of the great Saint Anthony, known as the Father of all monks. This common experience of communion before the time of separation has a special significance in our efforts to restore full communion today. Most of the relations which existed in the early centuries between the Catholic Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church have continued to the present day in spite of divisions, and have recently been revitalized. They challenge us to intensify our common efforts to persevere in the search for visible unity in diversity, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
3. We recall with gratitude the historic meeting forty-four years ago between our predecessors, Pope Paul VI and Pope Shenouda III, in an embrace of peace and fraternity, after many centuries when our mutual bonds of love were not able to find expression due to the distance that had arisen between us. The Common Declaration they signed on 10 May 1973 represented a milestone on the path of ecumenism, and served as a starting point for the Commission for Theological Dialogue between our two Churches, which has borne much fruit and opened the way to a broader dialogue between the Catholic Church and the whole family of Oriental Orthodox Churches. In that Declaration, our Churches acknowledged that, in line with the apostolic tradition, they profess one faith in the One Triune God and the divinity of the Only-begotten Son of God ... perfect God with respect to his divinity, perfect man with respect to his humanity. It was also acknowledged that the divine life is given to us and is nourished in us through the seven sacraments and that we venerate the Virgin Mary, Mother of the True Light, the Theotokos.
4. With deep gratitude we recall our own fraternal meeting in Rome on 10 May 2013, and the establishment of 10 May as the day when each year we deepen the friendship and brotherhood between our Churches. This renewed spirit of closeness has enabled us to discern once more that the bond uniting us was received from our one Lord on the day of our Baptism. For it is through Baptism that we become members of the one Body of Christ that is the Church (cf 1 Cor 12:13). This common heritage is the basis of our pilgrimage together towards full communion, as we grow in love and reconciliation.
5. We are aware that we still have far to go on this pilgrimage, yet we recall how much has already been accomplished. In particular, we call to mind the meeting between Pope Shenouda III and Saint John Paul II, who came as a pilgrim to Egypt during the Great Jubilee of the year 2000. We are determined to follow in their footsteps, moved by the love of Christ the good Shepherd, in the profound conviction that by walking together, we grow in unity. May we draw our strength from God, the perfect source of communion and love.
6. This love finds its deepest expression in common prayer. When Christians pray together, they come to realize that what unites them is much greater than what divides them. Our longing for unity receives its inspiration from the prayer of Christ that all may be one (Jn 17:21). Let us deepen our shared roots in the one apostolic faith by praying together and by seeking common translations of the Lord’s Prayer and a common date for the celebration of Easter.
7. As we journey towards the blessed day when we will at last gather at the same Eucharistic table, we can cooperate in many areas and demonstrate in a tangible way the great richness which already unites us. We can bear witness together to fundamental values such as the sanctity and dignity of human life, the sacredness of marriage and the family, and respect for all of creation, entrusted to us by God. In the face of many contemporary challenges such as secularization and the globalization of indifference, we are called to offer a shared response based on the values of the Gospel and the treasures of our respective traditions. In this regard, we are encouraged to engage in a deeper study of the Oriental and Latin Fathers, and to promote a fruitful exchange in pastoral life, especially in catechesis, and in mutual spiritual enrichment between monastic and religious communities.
8. Our shared Christian witness is a grace-filled sign of reconciliation and hope for Egyptian society and its institutions, a seed planted to bear fruit in justice and peace. Since we believe that all human beings are created in the image of God, we strive for serenity and concord through a peaceful co-existence of Christians and Muslims, thus bearing witness to God’s desire for the unity and harmony of the entire human family and the equal dignity of each human being. We share a concern for the welfare and the future of Egypt. All members of society have the right and duty to participate fully in the life of the nation, enjoying full and equal citizenship and collaborating to build up their country. Religious freedom, including freedom of conscience, rooted in the dignity of the person, is the cornerstone of all other freedoms. It is a sacred and inalienable right.
9. Let us intensify our unceasing prayer for all Christians in Egypt and throughout the whole world, and especially in the Middle East. The tragic experiences and the blood shed by our faithful who were persecuted and killed for the sole reason of being Christian, remind us all the more that the ecumenism of martyrdom unites us and encourages us along the way to peace and reconciliation. For, as Saint Paul writes: If one member suffers, all suffer together (1 Cor 12:26).
10. The mystery of Jesus who died and rose out of love lies at the heart of our journey towards full unity. Once again, the martyrs are our guides. In the early Church the blood of the martyrs was the seed of new Christians. So too in our own day, may the blood of so many martyrs be the seed of unity among all Christ’s disciples, a sign and instrument of communion and peace for the world.
11. In obedience to the work of the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies the Church, keeps her throughout the ages, and leads her to full unity – that unity for which Jesus Christ prayed: Today we, Pope Francis and Pope Tawadros II, in order to please the heart of the Lord Jesus, as well as that of our sons and daughters in the faith, mutually declare that we, with one mind and heart, will seek sincerely not to repeat the baptism that has been administered in either of our Churches for any person who wishes to join the other. This we confess in obedience to the Holy Scriptures and the faith of the three Ecumenical Councils assembled in Nicaea, Constantinople and Ephesus. We ask God our Father to guide us, in the times and by the means that the Holy Spirit will choose, to full unity in the mystical Body of Christ.
12. Let us, then, be guided by the teachings and the example of the Apostle Paul, who writes: Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Eph 4:3-6).
At 5:15pm this afternoon, the Holy Father, Pope Francis arrived at the Hotel Al-MÃ sah in Cairo for a meeting with civil Authorities. Approximately 800 representatives of various Institutions, members of the Diplomatic Corps and of civic Society were in attendance.
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
to political and civil Authorities
Mister President,
Honourable Members of Government and Parliament,
Distinguished Ambassadors and Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As-salamu alaykum! Peace be with you!
I thank you, Mister President, for your cordial words of greeting and for your kind invitation to visit your beloved country. I have vivid memories of your visit to Rome in November 2014, my fraternal meeting with his Holiness Pope Tawadros II in 2013, and my meeting last year with the Grand Imam of the University of Al-Azhar, Doctor Ahmad Al-Tayyib.
I am happy to be here in Egypt, a land of ancient and noble civilization, whose vestiges we can admire even today; in their majestic splendour they appear to withstand the passing of time. This land is significant for the history of humanity and for the Church’s tradition, not only because of its prestigious past – that of Pharaohs, Copts and Muslims – but also because so many of the Patriarchs lived in Egypt or passed through it. Indeed, Egypt is often mentioned in the sacred Scriptures. In this land, God spoke and revealed his name to Moses (John Paul II, Welcome Ceremony, 24 February 2000: Insegnamenti XXIII, 1 [2000], 248), and on Mount Sinai he entrusted to his people and to all humanity the divine Commandments. On Egyptian soil the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph found refuge and hospitality.
The generous hospitality shown more than two thousand years ago remains in the collective memory of humanity and is a source of abundant blessings that continue to expand. As a result, Egypt is a land that in some sense we all feel to be our own! As you say, Misr um al-dunya – Egypt is the mother of the world. Today too, this land welcomes millions of refugees from different countries, including Sudan, Eritrea, Syria and Iraq, refugees whom you make praiseworthy efforts to integrate into Egyptian society.
Thanks to its history and its particular geographical location, Egypt has a unique role to play in the Middle East and among those countries seeking solutions to pressing and complex problems that need to be faced now in order to avoid the spread of worse violence. I am speaking of the blind and brutal violence caused by different factors: sheer desire for power, the arms trade, grave social problems and that religious extremism which uses the Holy Name of God to carry out unprecedented atrocities and injustices.
This destiny and role of Egypt are also the reason that led the people to call for an Egypt where no one lacks bread, freedom and social justice. Certainly this aim will become a reality if all are willing, together, to turn words into actions, authentic aspirations into commitments, written laws into enforced laws, by drawing on the innate genius of the Egyptian people.
Egypt thus has a singular task, namely, to strengthen and consolidate regional peace even as it is assaulted on its own soil by senseless acts of violence. Such acts of violence have caused unjust suffering to so many families – some of them are present among us – who mourn their sons and daughters.
I think in a particular way of all those individuals who in recent years have given their lives to protect your country: young people, members of the armed forces and police, Coptic citizens and all those nameless victims of various forms of terrorist extremism. I think also of the murders and the threats that have led to an exodus of Christians from northern Sinai. I express my gratitude to the civil and religious authorities and to all those who have offered welcome and assistance to these persons who have suffered so greatly. I also think of the victims of the attacks on Coptic churches, both last December and more recently in Tanta and Alexandria. To the members of their families, and to all of Egypt, I offer my heartfelt condolences and my prayers that the Lord will grant speedy healing to the injured.
Mister President,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
I can only encourage the bold efforts being made to complete a number of national projects and the many initiatives of peacemaking, both within the country and beyond its borders, aimed at that development in prosperity and peace which its people desire and deserve.
Development, prosperity and peace are essential goods that merit every sacrifice. They are also goals that demand hard work, conviction and commitment, adequate planning and, above all, unconditional respect for inalienable human rights such as equality among all citizens, religious freedom and freedom of expression, without any distinction (cf Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Egyptian Constitution of 2014, Chapter 3). Goals, too, that require special consideration for the role of women, young people, the poor and the sick. Ultimately, true development is measured by concern for human beings, who are the heart of all development: concern for their education, health and dignity. The greatness of any nation is revealed in its effective care for society’s most vulnerable members – women, children, the elderly, the sick, the disabled and minorities – lest any person or social group be excluded or marginalized.
In the fragile and complex situation of today’s world, which I have described as a world war being fought piecemeal, it needs to be clearly stated that no civilized society can be built without repudiating every ideology of evil, violence and extremism that presumes to suppress others and to annihilate diversity by manipulating and profaning the Sacred Name of God. Mister President, you have spoken of this often and on various occasions, with a clarity that merits attention and appreciation.
All of us have the duty to teach coming generations that God, the Creator of heaven and earth, does not need to be protected by men; indeed, it is he who protects them. He never desires the death of his children, but rather their life and happiness. He can neither demand nor justify violence; indeed, he detests and rejects violence (God … hates the lover of violence: Ps 11:5). The true God calls to unconditional love, gratuitous pardon, mercy, absolute respect for every life and fraternity among his children, believers and nonbelievers alike.
It is our duty to proclaim together that history does not forgive those who preach justice, but then practice injustice. History does not forgive those who talk about equality, but then discard those who are different. It is our duty to unmask the peddlers of illusions about the afterlife, those who preach hatred in order to rob the simple of their present life and their right to live with dignity, and who exploit others by taking away their ability to choose freely and to believe responsibly. It is our duty to dismantle deadly ideas and extremist ideologies, while upholding the incompatibility of true faith and violence, of God and acts of murder.
History instead honours men and women of peace, who courageously and non-violently strive to build a better world: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God (Mt 5:9).
Egypt, in the days of Joseph, saved other peoples from famine (cf Gen 41:57); today it is called to save this beloved region from a famine of love and fraternity. It is called to condemn and vanquish all violence and terrorism. It is called to pour out the grain of peace upon all hearts that hunger for peaceful coexistence, dignified employment and humane education. Egypt, in building peace and at the same time combatting terrorism, is called to give proof that al-din lillah wal watan liljami – religion belongs to God and the nation to all, as the motto of the Revolution of 23 July 1952 states. Egypt is called to demonstrate that it is possible to believe and live in harmony with others, sharing with them fundamental human values and respecting the freedom and the faith of all (cf Egyptian Constitution of 2014, Article 5). Egypt has a special role to play in this regard, so that this region, the cradle of the three great religions, can and indeed will awaken from the long night of tribulation, and once more radiate the supreme values of justice and fraternity that are the solid foundation and the necessary path to peace (cf Message for the 2014 World Day of Peace, 4). From great nations, one can expect no less!
This year marks the seventieth anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the Arab Republic of Egypt, which was one of the first Arab countries to establish such relations. Those relations have always been characterized by friendship, esteem and reciprocal cooperation. It is my hope that my Visit may help to consolidate and strengthen them.
Peace is a gift of God, but also the work of man. It is a good that must be built up and protected, respecting the principle that upholds the force of law and not the law of force (cf Message for the 2017 World Day of Peace, 1). Peace for this beloved country! Peace for this whole region, and particularly for Palestine and Israel, for Syria, for Libya, Yemen, for Iraq, for South Sudan. Peace to all people of good will!
Mister President,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to greet with affection and a paternal embrace all the Egyptian people, who are symbolically present in this hall. I also greet my Christian sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters who live in this country: Coptic Orthodox, Greek Byzantines, Armenian Orthodox, Protestants and Catholics. May Saint Mark, the evangelizer of this land, watch over you and help all of us to build and achieve the unity so greatly desired by our Lord (cf Jn 17:20-23). Your presence in this, your country, is not new or accidental, but ancient and an inseparable part of the history of Egypt. You are an integral part of this country, and over the course of the centuries you have developed a sort of unique rapport, a particular symbiosis, which can serve as an example to other nations. You have shown, and continue to show, that it is possible to live together in mutual respect and fairness, finding in difference a source of richness and never a motive for conflict (cf Benedict XVI, Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Medio Oriente, 24 and 25).
Thank you for your warm welcome. I ask the Almighty and One God to fill all the Egyptian people with his divine blessings. May he grant peace and prosperity, progress and justice to Egypt, and bless all her children!
Blessed be Egypt my people, says the Lord in the Book of Isaiah (Is 19:25).
Shukran wa tahya misr! Thank you and long live Egypt!
At 3:40 pm this afternoon, Pope Francis went paid a courtesy visit to the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the highest theological and religious institution of Sunni Islam in the world and the oldest Islamic University.
Upon his arrival, the Pope was received at the entrance by the Vicar of the Grand Imam who accompanied him to the study where the private encounter with the Grand Imam Shaykh Ahmad Al-Tayeb took place.
At the end of the visit, the exchange of gifts took place. Pope Francis presented the Grand Imam with a mosaic depicting the Roman Forum adapted from the nineteenth-century oil painting of the heart of ancient Rome. The centre of the artwork is dominated by the impressive remains of the Temple of Saturn and on the left, the Arch of the emperor Septimus Severus. The mosaic was produced by the mosaicists of the Vatican Mosaic Studio between December 2015 and February 2016. Polychrome enamels were used, applied using oily stucco on a metallic base. The stucco has the same formula as that used in preceding centuries to apply the mosaics in Saint Peter's Basilica. The work was produced using the spun enamels technique, typical of the Vatican Mosaic Studio. The linear tesserae for the architectural details were produced by melting and modeling vitreous enamels at very high temperatures.
The Pope then went to the Al-Azhar Conference Center to address the participants at the International Peace Conference.
Upon arrival in the Conference Center, Pope Francis was welcomed by the Grand Imam. Present were Egyptian Religious Leaders and those other countries, a large representation of teachers and students from the Islamic university and a group of children from 60 nations. After the Grand Imam's speech, the Holy Father addressed the audience.
Address of the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar
Shaykh Ahmad Al-Tayeb
His Holiness Pope Francis of Vatican,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I greet you all with the greeting of peace al-Salamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuh
Al-Azhar and the Muslim Council of Elders (MCE) warmly welcome and thank you all for your honourable acceptance of our invitation. We deeply appreciate your visit to Egypt and Al-Azhar in response to Al-Azhar's invitation to undertake our collective historical responsibility as religious leaders and scholars to work for peace and relieve the miser nations, who aimlessly flee wars to vast deserts. Many people leave their homelands for other far destinations in pursuit of new hosting homes, while uncertain whether they would reach them or die and drown. It is unfortunate to see human bodies and parts of human remains on seashores in a horribly grievous human tragedy. It is not far from the truth to say that this is an unprecedented human tragedy throughout human history.
People of common sense and watchful conscience try to find the logic and reasons behind these tragedies for which we all pay with lives and countries in futile wars. However, they have come up with not one logical reason to justify these disasters, which have badly affected the poor, orphans, widows, and the aged. Only one reason seems to carry some measure of reasonability: it is arms trade and marketing that ensures the continuous operation of death plants and extraordinary enrichment resulting from suspicious deals backed by reckless international resolutions. For the sake of that hateful trade, hotbeds of tensions are created, and religious seditions and racial and sectarian conflicts and differences among the nationals of the same homeland are inflamed, turning human life into an unbearable misery of hell.
Ironically, this sharp disaster is taking place in the 21st century presumably the century of civilization, urbanity, human rights, epistemological progresses, and tremendous scientific advancements and technologies. It is also the century of Peace Organizations working for maintaining international peace and security, whose conventions criminalize the use of force or are threatening to use it in international relations. This suffering comes in a century of human philosophies and teachings, promotion of human egalitarianism and one-class social equality, and postmodernity among many other achievements for which our modern age is distinguished.
Here, it is crucial to ask how international peace has become a paradise lost and how the age of human rights has been badly plagued with savagely unprecedented atrocities! I have an answer, which you may also approve. I think that the modern civilization has ignored the divine religions and their invariably established ethics that remain the same regardless of earthly interests and purposes, let alone the dominance of desires and pleasures. The first of these ethics is human fraternity and human mutual understanding and mercy, which mindfully depicts created beings as the children of Allah; the most beloved of Allah's children to Allah is that one who extends more benefits to Allah's children. This value can prevent the world from shifting into a wilderness with monstrous animals of prey devouring one another. Thinkers from the east and the west emphasize that our only solution is to restore awareness of the heavenly revealed religion and to review the deviated modernized discourse deeply and critically in order to free the human mind from the claws of the emptiness of material experimental philosophy. Under such a philosophy, the minds of human individuals limitlessly go their way and dominate human lives. Post-modernity shall not be a mere process of beautifying such views with band-aid philosophies of affection and passion. For believers and philosophers, there is no way but to reformulate all this in the context of fraternity and mutual mercy before anything else (Taha Abdel-Rahman, Ruh al-Hadatha, p. 214 [footnotes], (Morocco: Arab Culture Center, 2006). This context is the antidote for reviving philosophies as well as other all-inclusive scientific and practical models. This antidote only exists in the pharmacy of religion. I do think that the world is currently prepared for religions to undertake their missions. They should stress the value of peace, justice, equality and human rights regardless of religion, colour, race, or language. The Glorious Quran frequently read by Muslims day and night simply declares,
We [Allah] have honoured the Children of Adam and carried them in the land and the sea.
We [Allah] have provided for them of the good things.
We [Allah] have preferred them over many of those We created in a marked preference (the Quran, 17:70) .
Before anything else, we need to liberate the image of religion from false concepts, misunderstandings, malpractices, and false religiosity attached to them. These evils bestir conflicts, spread hate, and instigate violence. We should not hold religion accountable for the crimes of any small group of followers. For example, Islam is not a religion of terrorism for a group of followers carelessly expedites to manipulate with Islamic texts and misinterpret them ignorantly.
Then, they shed blood, kill people, and spread destruction. Unfortunately, they find available sources of finance, weapons, and training. Likewise, Christianity is not a religion of terrorism just because a group of its followers carries the cross and decimates people without distinction between men, women, children, fighters, and captives.
Likewise, Judaism is not a religion of terrorism just because a group of its followers employs the teachings of Moses - God forbid - occupying lands and extirpating millions of the indigenous defenceless civilian citizens of the Palestinian people, who have the original rights to this land. Furthermore, it is not fair to say that the European civilization is a civilization of terrorism because two world wars broke out in Europe leaving behind more than seventy million dead. The same holds true for the American civilization whose atom bombs destroyed everything on earth in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If we open doors for accusations as have been opened against Islam, no religion, regime, civilization, or history would stand innocent from violence and terrorism.
Dear Pope, we deeply appreciate your fair declaration in support of the truth and defence of Islam against the accusation of violence and terrorism. We feel how you and all attending notable fathers of eastern and western churches are keen to respect religious beliefs and symbols and safeguard them from any offences, standing against those who employ such offences to foment conflicts among the believers. Al-Azhar is determined to work and cooperate with the calls to establish coexistence, reviving dialogue, respecting all human beliefs, and protecting them. We have many shared values and fields to work on. Meanwhile, the common challenges that we have to meet, as religious leaders, are also many. Let us work for the infirm, the hungry, the fearful, the prisoners of war, and all other suffering human beings in the world without discrimination, distinction, or classification. We shall all work together to save the human family from the threats of immorality and the violations of scientific research and researchers' deviations and carelessness. Let us all save our environment from corruption and from corrupters. Let us all stand against the policies of hegemony and the theories of the clash of civilizations,the end of history, calls for atheism, Machiavellian mentality, and irreligious modernity as well as against all bad consequences and disasters that follow them everywhere. Finally, may Allah—the Source of all Mercy— make this meeting a real opportunity for human cooperation to promote the culture of peace, human fraternity, and coexistence!
Thank you so much. Al-Salamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuh
Speech of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
to participants taking part in the
International Peace Conference
As-salamu alaykum! Peace be with you!
I consider it a great gift to be able to begin my Visit to Egypt here, and to address you in the context of this International Peace Conference. I thank the Grand Imam for having planned and organized this Conference, and for kindly inviting me to take part. I would like to offer you a few thoughts, drawing on the glorious history of this land, which over the ages has appeared to the world as a land of civilizations and a land of covenants.
A land of civilizations
From ancient times, the culture that arose along the banks of the Nile was synonymous with civilization. Egypt lifted the lamp of knowledge, giving birth to an inestimable cultural heritage, made up of wisdom and ingenuity, mathematical and astronomical discoveries, and remarkable forms of architecture and figurative art. The quest for knowledge and the value placed on education were the result of conscious decisions on the part of the ancient inhabitants of this land, and were to bear much fruit for the future. Similar decisions are needed for our own future, decisions of peace and for peace, for there will be no peace without the proper education of coming generations. Nor can young people today be properly educated unless the training they receive corresponds to the nature of man as an open and relational being.
Education indeed becomes wisdom for life if it is capable of drawing out of men and women the very best of themselves, in contact with the One who transcends them and with the world around them, fostering a sense of identity that is open and not self-enclosed. Wisdom seeks the other, overcoming temptations to rigidity and closed-mindedness; it is open and in motion, at once humble and inquisitive; it is able to value the past and set it in dialogue with the present, while employing a suitable hermeneutic. Wisdom prepares a future in which people do not attempt to push their own agenda but rather to include others as an integral part of themselves. Wisdom tirelessly seeks, even now, to identify opportunities for encounter and sharing; from the past, it learns that evil only gives rise to more evil, and violence to more violence, in a spiral that ends by imprisoning everyone. Wisdom, in rejecting the dishonesty and the abuse of power, is centred on human dignity, a dignity which is precious in God’s eyes, and on an ethics worthy of man, one that is unafraid of others and fearlessly employs those means of knowledge bestowed on us by the Creator (An ethics of fraternity and peaceful coexistence between individuals and among peoples cannot be based on the logic of fear, violence and closed-mindedness, but on responsibility, respect and sincere dialogue: Nonviolence: a Style of Politics for Peace, Message for the 2017 World Day of Peace, 5).
Precisely in the field of dialogue, particularly inter-religious dialogue, we are constantly called to walk together, in the conviction that the future also depends on the encounter of religions and cultures. In this regard, the work of the Mixed Committee for Dialogue between the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue and the Committee of Al-Azhar for Dialogue offers us a concrete and encouraging example. Three basic areas, if properly linked to one another, can assist in this dialogue: the duty to respect one’s own identity and that of others, the courage to accept differences, and sincerity of intentions.
The duty to respect one’s own identity and that of others, because true dialogue cannot be built on ambiguity or a willingness to sacrifice some good for the sake of pleasing others. The courage to accept differences, because those who are different, either culturally or religiously, should not be seen or treated as enemies, but rather welcomed as fellow-travellers, in the genuine conviction that the good of each resides in the good of all. Sincerity of intentions, including dialogue, as an authentic expression of our humanity, is not a strategy for achieving specific goals, but rather a path to truth, one that deserves to be undertaken patiently, in order to transform competition into cooperation.
An education in respectful openness and sincere dialogue with others, recognizing their rights and basic freedoms, particularly religious freedom, represents the best way to build the future together, to be builders of civility. For the only alternative to the civility of encounter is the incivility of conflict. To effectively counter the barbarity of those who foment hatred and violence, we need to accompany young people, helping them on the path to maturity and teaching them to respond to the incendiary logic of evil by patiently working for the growth of goodness. In this way, young people, like well-planted trees, can be firmly rooted in the soil of history, and, growing heavenward in one another’s company, can daily turn the polluted air of hatred into the oxygen of fraternity.
In facing this great cultural challenge, one that is both urgent and exciting, we, Christians, Muslims and all believers, are called to offer our specific contribution: We live under the sun of the one merciful God ... Thus, in a true sense, we can call one another brothers and sisters ... since without God the life of man would be like the heavens without the sun (John Paul II, Address to Muslim Religious Leaders, Kaduna (Nigeria), 14 February 1982). May the sun of a renewed fraternity in the name of God rise in this sun-drenched land, to be the dawn of a civilization of peace and encounter. May Saint Francis of Assisi, who eight centuries ago came to Egypt and met Sultan Malik al Kamil, intercede for this intention. A land of covenants
In Egypt, not only did the sun of wisdom rise, but also the variegated light of the religions shone in this land. Here, down the centuries, differences of religion constituted a form of mutual enrichment in the service of the one national community (John Paul II, Address at the Arrival Ceremony, Cairo, 24 February 2000). Different faiths met and a variety of cultures blended without being confused, while acknowledging the importance of working together for the common good. Such “covenants” are urgently needed today. Here I would take as a symbol the Mount of the Covenant which rises up in this land. Sinai reminds us above all that authentic covenants on earth cannot ignore heaven, that human beings cannot attempt to encounter one another in peace by eliminating God from the horizon, nor can they climb the mountain to appropriate God for themselves (cf Ex 19:12).
This is a timely reminder in the face of a dangerous paradox of the present moment. On the one hand, religion tends to be relegated to the private sphere, as if it were not an essential dimension of the human person and society. At the same time, the religious and political spheres are confused and not properly distinguished. Religion risks being absorbed into the administration of temporal affairs and tempted by the allure of worldly powers that in fact exploit it. Our world has seen the globalization of many useful technical instruments, but also a globalization of indifference and negligence, and it moves at a frenetic pace that is difficult to sustain. As a result, there is renewed interest in the great questions about the meaning of life. These are the questions that the religions bring to the fore, reminding us of our origins and ultimate calling. We are not meant to spend all our energies on the uncertain and shifting affairs of this world, but to journey towards the Absolute that is our goal. For all these reasons, especially today, religion is not a problem but a part of the solution: against the temptation to settle into a banal and uninspired life, where everything begins and ends here below, religion reminds us of the need to lift our hearts to the Most High in order to learn how to build the city of man.
To return to the image of Mount Sinai, I would like to mention the commandments that were promulgated there, even before they were sculpted on tablets of stone (They were written on the human heart as the universal moral law, valid in every time and place. Today as always, the Ten Words of the Law provide the only true basis for the lives of individuals, societies and nations ... They are the only future of the human family. They save man from the destructive force of egoism, hatred and falsehood. They point out all the false gods that draw him into slavery: the love of self to the exclusion of God, the greed for power and pleasure that overturns the order of justice and degrades our human dignity and that of our neighbour (John Paul II, Homily during the Celebration of the Word at Mount Sinai, Saint Catherine’s Monastery, 26 February 2000)). At the centre of this decalogue, there resounds, addressed to each individual and to people of all ages, the commandment: Thou shalt not kill (Ex 20:13). God, the lover of life, never ceases to love man, and so he exhorts us to reject the way of violence as the necessary condition for every earthly covenant. Above all and especially in our day, the religions are called to respect this imperative, since, for all our need of the Absolute, it is essential that we reject any absolutizing that would justify violence. For violence is the negation of every authentic religious expression.
As religious leaders, we are called, therefore, to unmask the violence that masquerades as purported sanctity and is based more on the absolutizing of selfishness than on authentic openness to the Absolute. We have an obligation to denounce violations of human dignity and human rights, to expose attempts to justify every form of hatred in the name of religion, and to condemn these attempts as idolatrous caricatures of God: Holy is his name, he is the God of peace, God salaam ( Address at the Central Mosque of Koudoukou, Bangui (Central African Republic), 30 November 2015), therefore, is holy and no act of violence can be perpetrated in the name of God, for it would profane his Name.
Together, in the land where heaven and earth meet, this land of covenants between peoples and believers, let us say once more a firm and clear No! to every form of violence, vengeance and hatred carried out in the name of religion or in the name of God. Together let us affirm the incompatibility of violence and faith, belief and hatred. Together let us declare the sacredness of every human life against every form of violence, whether physical, social, educational or psychological. Unless it is born of a sincere heart and authentic love towards the Merciful God, faith is no more than a conventional or social construct that does not liberate man, but crushes him. Let us say together: the more we grow in the love of God, the more we grow in the love of our neighbour.
Religion, however, is not meant only to unmask evil; it has an intrinsic vocation to promote peace, today perhaps more than ever (More perhaps than ever before in history, the intrinsic link between an authentic religious attitude and the great good of peace has become evident to all (John Paul II, Address to Representatives of the Christian Churches and Ecclesial Communities and of the World Religions, Assisi, 27 October 1986: Insegnamenti IX, 2 (1986), 1268). Without giving in to forms of facile syncretism (cf Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 251), our task is that of praying for one another, imploring from God the gift of peace, encountering one another, engaging in dialogue and promoting harmony in the spirit of cooperation and friendship. For our part, as Christians, we cannot truly pray to God the Father of all if we treat any people as other than brothers and sisters, for all are created in God’s image (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration Nostra Aetate, 5). Moreover, we know that, engaged in a constant battle against the evil that threatens a world which is no longer a place of genuine fraternity, God assures all those who trust in his love that the way of love lies open to men and that the effort to establish universal brotherhood is not vain (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 38). Rather, that effort is essential: it is of little or no use to raise our voices and run about to find weapons for our protection: what is needed today are peacemakers, not fomenters of conflict; firefighters and not arsonists; preachers of reconciliation and not instigators of destruction.
It is disconcerting to note that, as the concrete realities of people’s lives are increasingly ignored in favour of obscure machinations, demagogic forms of populism are on the rise. These certainly do not help to consolidate peace and stability: no incitement to violence will guarantee peace, and every unilateral action that does not promote constructive and shared processes is in reality a gift to the proponents of radicalism and violence.
In order to prevent conflicts and build peace, it is essential that we spare no effort in eliminating situations of poverty and exploitation where extremism more easily takes root, and in blocking the flow of money and weapons destined to those who provoke violence. Even more radically, an end must be put to the proliferation of arms; if they are produced and sold, sooner or later they will be used. Only by bringing into the light of day the murky manoeuvrings that feed the cancer of war can its real causes be prevented. National leaders, institutions and the media are obliged to undertake this urgent and grave task. So too are all of us who play a leading role in culture; each in his or her own area, we are charged by God, by history and by the future to initiate processes of peace, seeking to lay a solid basis for agreements between peoples and states. It is my hope that this noble and beloved land of Egypt, with God’s help, may continue to respond to the calling it has received to be a land of civilization and covenant, and thus to contribute to the development of processes of peace for its beloved people and for the entire region of the Middle East.
As-salamu alaykum! Peace be with you!
At the conclusion of this encounter, the Pope travelled by car to the Hotel Al-MÃ sah in order to participate in a meeting with civil Authorities.
